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The Good Life | South Side native's quiet generosity makes Irish eyes smile

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On Thursdays, Mike McConahay visits a friend struggling with Parkinson’s disease and takes him
out to socialize.

Recently, they went to the 4S Club, a Roman Catholic society meeting house and bar, where Tom
McNally saw many people he hadn’t seen in a long time.

“Tom can’t walk anymore, so I have to help him in and out,” McConahay said. “It makes a big
difference to him.”

The weekly routine represents one of many ways that the South Side native has long made a
difference in others’ lives.

And he has done so quietly.

McConahay regularly visits hospitals and nursing homes to take people on errands or to meet
friends.

Many are associated with the Shamrock Club of Columbus, a service group on the South Side for
Irish-Americans.

“Just visiting someone with a kind word can make a big difference,” he said.

He also landscapes the club grounds, organizes three annual blood drives at the club for the
American Red Cross and helps fill eggs for the annual Easter egg hunt of the Daughters of Erin.

“He’s a great family man with a wonderful attitude, very outgoing, and he enjoys helping people
out,” said Mike Murphy, president of the Shamrock Club. “He basically built our playground,
organizing the fundraisers and installing the equipment.”

McConahay has raised more than $50,000 for the club — including about $20,000 for the
playground, which in July was renamed Mike McConahay’s Leprechaun Land.

He is a familiar presence at the annual St. Patrick’s Day parade in Columbus and, in 2000,
served as the parade’s grand marshal.

“St. Patrick’s Day isn’t just about a parade and going out and drinking,” he said. “It’s about
veneration of all the teachings of St. Patrick. ... You can go to heaven if you follow the Ten
Commandments, help other people out and get as close as possible to loving your neighbor as
yourself.”

At 67, an age when others have retired, McConahay works full time at his carpet-cleaning
business, squeezing volunteer work into his spare time.

“He does so many different things that it’s hard to say which is the most important because each
impacts someone greatly,” said daughter Colleen, 43.

McConahay — who lives in Merion Village with his wife, Carol — has eight children, 14
grandchildren and two great-grandchildren.

“Every one of us has helped,” Colleen McConahay said. “He always says it’s the right thing to do
and you should always be paying it forward.”

Being raised in such a family, she said, has provided her and her siblings with a clear example
of how to treat others.

“He doesn’t waver. He gives to anyone who needs it.”

Molly Byrne, a past Shamrock Club president, agreed.

“He’s just a good person — always helping someone or giving people rides,” Byrne said.

“If we did a fraction of the volunteering that Mike does, we’d all be going to heaven.”